Shadows We Live In
by VampedVixen
Summary: College is a time to start over, and what better place than on a hellmouth! BWoC/Buffy crossover.
1. Default Chapter

Shadows We Live In  
_A Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Big Wolf on Campus crossover_  
_By Vixen  
_  
**Disclaimer: **Buffy is owned by Joss Whedon, master of angst. And Big Wolf on Campus is owned by someone else, I'm not sure who but it's definitely not me, so don't sue.  
**Thanks:** To Faith for helping me out with some werewolf mythology.  
  
"Tommy do you realize that this college, this entire town in fact, is built over a hellmouth. It's home to a literal smorgasbord of supernatural creatures," Merton carried a brown packing box into the dorm he now shared with Tommy. It was their first day of attending Sunnydale University as freshmen.   
  
Tommy unfortunately didn't share the same excitement as his friend did, "Tell me again why I agreed to go to college here."  
  
The black haired boy ripped off the tape from the box and looked at the items inside, eyeing a football he knew the box was Tommy's, and put it on his roommate's side of the room, "The plenitude of werewolf legends, the chance to meet some more of your 'kind',"  
  
"My 'kind'?" He sounded a little defensive; so he was a werewolf, he wasn't that different. Instead of arguing, he retrieved the football from his box and started tossing it into the air.   
  
Merton opened another box and found his stuff, a skull, some candles, and a few spell books. "Plus they gave me a paranormal scholarship, I'm going to be studying with the best demonologists in the country, and you, being the best friend that you are, decided to attend the same college."  
  
Tommy plopped down on one of his beds; somewhat depressed, "I miss Stacy."   
Merton nodded, "Sure you do, it's normal after-high-school angst. But she's in Massachusetts and you are here, so - -"   
  
Finishing the sentence, Tommy added, "I should get over this."  
  
"Well... Yeah." Merton put two white candles next to the window, looking out at the campus, "There's plenty of cute girls here, maybe you'll meet one."  
  
"Maybe" Tommy agreed, reluctantly, not really believing it.  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, in the dorm across the campus, Willow was surfing the net, diligently, looking for the web site Oz had told her about in his postcard. He had moved away the year before, leaving his girlfriend Willow behind. He had needed to work out a few issues about his being a werewolf. Now a year later, they had both moved on. Well, he had at least, as he told her in the letter. A groupie named Terri had caught his eye. Willow sighed as she found the web site. She missed him, but didn't feel that bad that they were broken up.   
  
The web site was professionally done to highlight Oz's band activities. It told the Internet savvy about upcoming gigs, and had pictures from past shows. It even had a place where you could order their CD online.  
  
"Hey, Net Girl." Buffy greeted as she entered their dorm. It was one of Willow's nicknames, since she was incredibly computer literate. They were both returning as sophomores.   
  
"Hey, Slayer," Willow acknowledged the vampire slayer, turning towards her on the computer swivel chair.   
  
Buffy dropped her bags on her bed. "I just got in."  
  
"What took you so long?"  
  
Buffy smirked, "I had some last minute shopping to do."  
  
Willow laughed, "Well, of course. Seeing Riley again is a big occasion."  
  
"I can't believe it's been 2 months," Buffy had missed her boyfriend every minute of it.  
  
The red head curiously pried, "So, have you seen him yet?"  
  
"No, but I will, soon, actually I have to go meet him in a few minutes," Buffy said looking at her wristwatch. Walking to the small refrigerator, she pulled out a 'Poland Spring' water, and opened the top. Getting up, she made her way to the dorm door,   
  
"So, I'll be out with Riley and then I'm going on patrol."  
  
"Together?"  
  
"No, Riley has to work tonight," Buffy gave a little pout, and opened the door. "I'll be back at, like, midnight, so don't wait up."  
  
"Have fun" Willow called after her roommate and turned back to the computer.  
  
  
  
Buffy was sitting outside on the campus lawn at eight o'clock that night. Riley had just left to go to work, and she was bored now. Patrol would keep her occupied though. The sun had just gone down and for the numerous vampires that cluttered the area, it was breakfast time. The slayer was waiting for some decent action. Luckily, she didn't have to wait that long.  
  
A badly dressed non-human was spotted to her right, escorting a frightened freshman girl towards the woods. Buffy stood up, looking around, trying to find any prying, human onlookers who might find out her secret job. There were a few people around, but they didn't look like they were too interested in her.  
  
Buffy ran into the woods, following the evil creature close enough to not be seen. Just when the vamp was about to sink his teeth into his meal, Buffy announced herself, "Don't you know it's rude to pick on freshmen?"  
  
The vampire looked at her, recognition flashing on his fanged face, "Slayer." He dropped his meal. The terrified girl scurried away, successfully.  
  
"Hi, how was your summer? Miss me?" She delivered a quick kick to the vampire's ribs.  
  
"Not much," The vampire took her by surprise and threw the blond slayer against a tree. She hit it with a hard thud; pain started flowing over her. Opening her eyes she saw a tall athletic young guy. He was going to get himself in trouble, "Get out of here," Buffy yelled to him, trying to stand up.  
  
The vampire started to approach the boy, the creature's face wrinkled and ugly.   
  
"You get out of here, I can handle this," Tommy told Buffy. His face changed, as his eyes started to glow yellow. Buffy watched sort of shocked as Tommy changed into a werewolf, but not much since she had seen a lot of things in her life. "Let's get ready to rumble," Tommy said as he charged the vampire.   
  
Buffy stood up finally, her head swimming. Pulling out her trusty stake, she staked the vampire right after Tommy punched him. It exploded into dust, leaving the two of them face to face.   
  
"Hey, thanks for the assist but this is kind of my job, so leave the slaying to me," Buffy felt a little protective of her job. Plus, she didn't want to see any outsiders hurt.  
The werewolf changed back into a human, calming down after the fight, "Right."  
  
"Good." Buffy agreed as they started walking in opposite direction. Quickly, and at the same time they turn back to each other. "Please, don't tell anyone," They said in unison.  
  
"Right." Buffy agreed.  
  
"Good." Tommy nodded as they left in opposite directions again.   
  
  
  
  
The following day, after his first college class of College English, Merton was perusing the massive campus library. Word had it that the Sunnydale University had a huge occult section. He turned a corner and found six shelves full of leather bound manuscripts. "Jack pot," Merton said to himself.  
  
A girl with red hair and an energetic atmosphere was looking through the manuscripts too. She had been searching for something she obviously couldn't find, when Merton had arrived.  
  
"'The Malleus Grimorium'," Merton went to reach for the brown book, while, unaware to him, the girl went for it. Their hands reached the book at the same time, bumping into each other.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," The girl said, aware of Merton for the first time.   
  
"No, uh- - you can have it," Merton politely responded, stuck by how beautiful the girl was.  
  
"Thank you, um?" She asked, searching for a name.  
  
"Merton. Merton Dingle."  
  
"I'm Willow Rosenburg," She outstretched her hand in friendly greeting, and as   
  
Merton shook it there was a spark of something, possibly romance.  
  
Willow took the manuscript from off the shelf and began to walk away, but called back, "Thanks for the book, Merton; I'll see you around."  
  
"You're welcome," He called back to her, beaming with happiness. Merton looked back at the shelf and picked up a different book.  
  
  
  
  
Buffy took a sip of the tea Giles had made for her as she sat on the couch in his small apartment. She had just wanted to check in with him after the long summer vacation; the slayer had missed her pseudo watcher.  
  
The British gentleman sat in the chair opposite her, listening halfheartedly to her tales of shopping, concerts, and other teenage activities that had occupied her vacation. He was glad Buffy had enjoyed her summer, especially since Slayers didn't usually live that long. It was rare that Buffy had a moment to herself, just to act her age.   
  
"Oh!" Buffy remembered something, "Last night I ran into a werewolf, I think. He wasn't like Oz," And as an after thought she added, "More like...Michael J. Fox in 'Teen Wolf'"  
  
Giles looked at his wall calendar; "Its five nights until the full moon, lycanthropic activity at this time would point to a 'natural' werewolf."  
  
"Is there such a thing as a 'natural' werewolf? Aren't they notoriously 'supernatural'?" She wondered out loud.  
  
"Werewolves, like many supernatural creatures, have many types - - breeds, you could say. The two principal classifications are unnatural and natural. Oz, since his changes appear with each full moon, is unnatural; the natural breed changes at will and at times of extreme emotion."  
  
Willow entered the apartment, unseen by the others until she spoke, "There's another werewolf in Sunnydale?"  
  
"Yep," Buffy nodded to the new visitor, as Willow sat down on the couch next to Buffy and gave a quick smile to Giles. "Just when I thought the year was going to be normal."  
  
Willow shook her head, sarcastically, "Things are never normal in Sunnydale... So do you know who it is?"   
  
"Yes... " Buffy paused, sheepishly, knowing her friends would be sort of mad at her,   
  
"But I promised not to tell."  
  
  
  
  
"A vampire slayer? Are you sure, Tommy?" Merton asked during dinner that night. They were eating take-out chicken because neither of them ever got the grasp of the cooking thing.   
  
Tommy from where he was sitting on his bed against the beige wall, nodded, completely positive of his answer, "Pretty sure; there was a vampire, he called her the 'slayer'."  
  
"Wow, I didn't know there was going to be vampire slaying on campus," Merton excitedly opened the trunk at the end of his bed and pulled out some garlic, a cross and a stake. "Talk about your extracurricular activities." He also pulled out one of his water pistols that was filled with holy water, and tossed it to Tommy.   
Tommy caught the water pistol with the skill of the top athlete that he was, "You brought your weapons?"  
  
"I thought of everything, didn't I?" Merton smirked and returned to his trunk, looking for the other water pistol.  
  
  
  
  
"Giles, I'm sorry, I just can't tell you," Buffy shook her head, denying him the information for a third time.   
  
Giles looked mad, but only replied, "I understand, Buffy. But secrets like this can end up getting people hurt. The-the people on the campus could get seriously maimed by this creature."  
  
Buffy shook her head, discerningly, "No, no, there will be no maiming, trust me Giles, he's on the good side, he's not like Oz." She said, shoving her foot directly in her mouth, she took a side-glance at Willow, "Sorry. I mean Oz was on our side, just his inner werewolf wasn't."  
  
Willow knew Buffy didn't mean to hurt her, " I know what you mean."  
  
"Uh, I suggest you start on patrol for the night," Giles told her, instructing her like he was still her watcher. "There has been a rise in vampire activity since you left for the summer."  
  
"Well, the Buff-ster's back so the vampires better am-scray if they know what's best for them," Buffy grabbed her coat, "Coming Willow?"  
  
"Okay, I need to finish some work for a spell back at the dorm anyway," She agreed. Giles gave her a look. His patented, 'Please be careful when playing with magick' look. Willow started for the door, "Don't worry, Giles. I know what I'm doing."  
Willow and Buffy left, as Giles watched them go, pondering how much they had grown from the high school juniors he had first met. Willow had grown from her shyness and blossomed into a beautiful, confident Wiccan. And Buffy, Buffy would go down in Slayer legend. They were his children, and he was proud.  
  
  
  
  
"I can't believe there's another werewolf here," Willow talked to her long time friend as she walked across campus. The night air was slightly chilly. "Why won't you tell me who it is? I'm your best friend, you can tell me," she said, pouting a little.  
  
"Willow, it's just... I don't know... I guess it's because I know what its like to have to keep that sort of secret. I mean, I'm the slayer, if that gets out to the public, people would look at me differently. No one deserves that."  
  
"I guess you're..." She was cut off by a vampire, in full 'game face' mode dashing across the big lawn. "Vampire."  
  
"Hold that thought," Buffy said, pulling out a stake from her purse. "I'll be right back," She called back as she ran into the woods, leaving Willow completely alone in the middle of the campus lawn.  
  
Suddenly, a werewolf ran in front of Willow, towards the woods. She just stood there, watching the slayer and the werewolf battle the vampire, waiting for her friend to return, to herself she thought, "Oh, yeah, my life's normal." Changing her mind, she began heading for the woods, just to see if she could help out in anyway.   
  
As she neared the vampire, it looked at her, eyeing her hungrily. Thinking better of her decision to join the fight, she backed up into a big bush, great hiding spot. From behind the bush, she could see the fight, but was well protected.  
  
Movement came from behind a nearby bush, worried that it might be another vampire, Willow took out a stake, holding it above her head, she neared the other bush. Just as she was about to strike, Willow recognized the person who was hiding behind the bush. "Merton!"  
  
"Willow?" Merton was just as surprised as he put down his water pistol.   
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"What are you doing here?" He mimicked her question.  
  
"I'm..." He searched for a reasonable lie, "Playing paintball." She narrowed her eyes at him. "All right, all right, I'm here for the same reason you're here... maybe."  
  
"To save the world from vampires?" If the situation had been less serious she would have laughed.  
  
"Congratulations, that would be the reason," he turned back towards the fight.  
  
From the other side of the bush, Buffy had just staked the vampire. She turned, madly to Tommy, "I thought I said to lay off the slaying?"  
  
"And I thought you could use the help," Tommy said defensively, changing back to human form.   
  
Buffy shook her head, "I've been doing this for a lot longer than you, and you thought I could use your help?" She cocked her head and sarcastically added, "And you could work on your battle one-liners. I mean could they be any cornier."  
  
Tommy looked hurt, and just as mad as Buffy was. Especially since he was only helping, he laughed, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you had complete dibs on the vampires. So the next time someone gets hurt by a vampire and you're not there, I'll just let it kill them. Would that make you happy?" His eyes started glowing again, as his emotions began getting out of control.  
  
"Uh, guys?" Willow asked, coming out of her hiding spot. Merton was right behind her.   
  
"Oh, Willow," Buffy remembered her friend was waiting for her.  
  
"Are you guys done fighting, cause if not me and Willow are just going to leave without you," Merton said.   
  
Buffy sighed, getting her anger under control, "I'm done."  
  
"Yeah." Tommy agreed, as his eyes stopped glowing yellow.  
  
  
  
Tommy was lying on his bed, tossing his basketball around. He couldn't stop thinking about the Slayer. Buffy. She had yelled at him, after he had helped her. Girls, Tommy would never understand them. At that time he realized he hadn't thought of Stacy for the past few hours.  
  
Merton closed his laptop, and put in under his bed. Getting up he turned off the ceiling light, ready for sleep, "You like her! You like her!" He sounded like a little kid who had just found out a way to annoy someone greatly.  
  
"I do not," Tommy said defensively, throwing his basketball to the floor, tired. "She's annoying and - -" He didn't know what else to say.  
  
"Well-built with nice curves and big pouty lips?"  
  
Tommy rolled over and closed his eyes, trying to end this conversation, "Go to sleep Merton."  
  
In the other bed, Merton laughed.  
  
  
  
That night, Buffy tossed and turned. She was having one of her strange dreams again. This time, Cain, a werewolf hunter who had tried to kill Oz a few years ago was haunting her. He was hunting someone she cared about, but she couldn't figure out who it was. The alarm rang and she jumped out of bed, startled, landing on the floor.  
  
"Bad dream?" Willow asked, slightly worried.  
  
"Prophetic dream... I think," Buffy looked at the clock, ready for a day of classes, but still wondering about the dream. "I'm running late, but can you do me a favor?"  
  
"Sure," Willow said, sitting on her bed in pajamas.  
  
"See if you can find out the location of Gib Cain, that werewolf hunter we ran into two years ago," Buffy stood at the door, ready to leave.  
  
"Right, I'll tell you if I find anything." Willow nodded, ready to start her own little research party; it was one of her roles in Scooby Gang.  
  
"Bye," Buffy said before leaving.  
  
  
  
  
A few hours later, after leaving Demonology 101, Willow ran into Merton. In that crowded hallway, all Willow saw was him, and that scared her. It frightened her because she had started to feel certain things, things she had convinced herself were wrong. Wrong because she belonged with Oz, but he had run off with some other girl. As Willow approached Merton, she pushed those thoughts away from her. It was way too soon to even start thinking about that. They had only seen each other a few times before, and where they were now was only friendship, if that. She chided herself, how could she even think that she was starting to feel things so soon. But as he saw her, recognized the red head and smiled, she felt her heart beat quicker.  
  
"Oh, Hi Merton. I'm finished with the book and thought you might want a chance to look at it," She took The Malleus Grimorium out of her bag and handed it to him.  
  
"Uh, thank you," Merton said simply, not knowing what else to say.   
  
Willow shyly looked away. The whole scene was reminding her a little too much of when she was still in high school. It was the whole 'I've got a crush on you' dance that she knew too well, "I was going to go get a bite to eat, I don't suppose you'd want to come."  
  
"Sure, I'm always up for lunch with a beautiful lady," He was suddenly surprised, where had all that confidence just come from. It was totally out of character, he was usually inarticulate around girls. But as Willow wrapped her arm around his, he forgot his thoughts and walked with her, grinning.   
  
  
  
"So, you're from Pleasantville, Missouri, huh?" Willow asked, deep in conversation. Her and Merton were sitting outside underneath a tree, eating take out from one of the snack bars on campus.  
  
"Born and breed, though there was that one year I spent as a foreign exchange student in Transylvania," Merton replied, having entirely too much fun.   
  
"Really?"  
  
"No, but I'm saving up for a trip to go there." He admitted.  
  
She laughed and took a bite of her turkey sandwich, "Hmm. Sounds like fun. I've never been out of Sunnydale myself. I guess that's why I don't want to leave. I mean, it's home to the big brewing evil, but it's my home too."  
  
"The hellmouth, 'la boca de inferno'," Merton tried out a foreign accent on her, but ended up laughing. "Nice place to visit..."  
  
"..but you wouldn't want to slay here." Willow laughed at her own corny joke. "So, what kinds of weird monsters have you come across? I mean, with your best friend a werewolf, you must have run into some stuff other kids wouldn't," She looked around to the other students, they were so naive, and here Willow and Merton were bonding over monsters, the hellmouth, and other forces of darkness.  
  
"Hmm. There was this cat woman, extremely jealous were-cat woman. An evil bookmobile..."  
  
Willow laughed, "An evil bookmobile?"  
  
"Yeah, this old lady kept turning people into books. But me and Tommy stopped it, well mostly Tommy." He added, "But I did the research."  
  
Willow grinned, "That's how me and Buffy handle the uglies around here, I'm honorary research girl, and Buffy does the butt kicking, but I guess I've kicked my share."  
  
"Wow," Merton said, "I can't believe how much we have in common."  
  
"A lot normal people never would understand." Willow pointed out.  
  
"Hey, we might not be normal, but at least we know about this stuff," Merton pointed to some other students, "They're clueless. They're just carrying on like there's no evil in the world, no monsters, just keg parties, and fraternity pranks; it must be pretty boring." He shook his head, "Oh, sorry, that was my morbid gothic self again."  
  
Willow looked at him, "But it's true, life was pretty dull until Buffy showed up and I started to notice the vampires. But dull is nice once in awhile." She was leading to the topic she had been hesitating to approach, "Which reminds me, what are you doing Saturday? Because I was invited to a party Buffy's friend is having."  
  
"And you thought you'd bring me as a date?" Merton grinned, knowing what was coming.  
  
"Well... the thought had crossed my mind," Willow assented.   
  
"Sure, why not." Merton nodded. "Saturday it is."  
  
  
  
  
Willow opened the door to her dorm. She beamed with happiness, she had a crush, and she had a date with him. Walking over to her bed, she sat down and got her laptop out from underneath it. It had been carefully hidden to prevent theft.  
  
She logged on to the net and started hacking away, trying to find out the whereabouts of one: Gib Cain. It was illegal, but usually it didn't feel that way. This time it did. The slayerette didn't doubt Buffy, well, not that much, but one dream wasn't enough to go on. Even if it might be prophetic.  
  
She located the last credit card uses, and sighed. Buffy had been right. The last few credit card charges had been hotels and dinners; all leading to Sunnydale if put on a map properly. The final credit card charge was for Sunnydale Bed and Breakfast. He was here. Close. Too close.  
  
Buffy walked into the dorm and sat on the bed, tired from class, but happy since it was one of the classes in which Riley worked as a teacher's assistant. She looked at Willow, looking for answers, "So, what's the what?"   
  
The wiccan red head looked up from her laptop, "I think we've got a problem."  
  
  
  
  
Night again. The creatures of darkness were out in full swing. Buffy hadn't even gotten a chance to go talk to Tommy since she was still stuck in the woods throwing punches and kicks around. Something was different, the vamps were getting more numerous. Usually when vampire activity got quite, it was a time to panic, but this was bad. Something foreboding was urging all the Sunnydale resident vampires to go out on the town.   
  
"Slayer," Spike showed up from out of no where apparently. It was a habit with the semi-good, not exactly evil vampire. "No fair hogging all the fun," He dusted a vamp, one of his own kind. He was prohibited from hurting anything living due to an earlier experiment he was unwittingly host to, but it didn't keep him from hurting his own kind.   
  
"So glad you could show up, Spike," Buffy dusted a newbie vampire who was pathetically trying to ambush her. She felt so sorry for it she almost let it get one punch in. Almost, but not quite.  
  
"Came 'cross a prophesy you and your watcher might want to hear 'bout." He came to her aid as four bloodsuckers cornered her. With his help, she was able to put the four corpses to rest, eternally.  
  
"What prophesy?"  
  
Spike held out a piece of paper, "This one."  
  
Buffy took the paper from him, and read it, or at least tried to. When she was done she tucked it in her coat pocket, it made no sense to her, but it might to Giles. Looking back up, she noticed Spike had left. "Typical."   
  
  
Tommy sat on his bed, picked up the phone and stared at it in his hand. He wanted to call Stacy, but didn't want to bother her. Didn't want to seem desperate. They had said their good-byes, and knew it would be impossible to stay together after high school, but still...   
  
He finally punched in the long distance phone number to Stacy's dorm room.   
  
"Hello, this is Stacy..." Tommy heard someone in the background.   
  
"Oh, Stacy, its Tommy."  
  
A muffled voice came through the phone, "Stop it Peter, come on, I'm talking to my old boyfriend." In a louder, unmuffled voice she said to Tommy, "I didn't think you'd call, I mean we're thousands of miles apart..."  
  
"Who was that?" Tommy asked, cutting her off. He was suddenly getting very jealous.  
  
"Well, we both agreed that it would be okay to see other people, didn't we?" Stacey asked, unsure of herself, not wanting to hurt Tommy's feelings.  
  
"Yeah, but, I never thought." He stopped, he knew this was coming.  
  
"Well, I have to go, but I'll see you sometime, okay?"   
  
"Yeah." Tommy hung up the phone. His eyes glowed with envy. He never expected her to get on with her life so quickly. He sure hadn't. In high school they were the school's most popular couple, quarterback and cheerleader, it was meant to be, wasn't it? But as everything kept reminding him, high school was over, new lives were starting. It was just so damn frustrating; he felt the urge to get into a fight, but instead just chucked the phone across the room, towards the open door.  
  
Buffy was walking in at precisely that moment, catching the phone in her hand, just moments before getting struck on the head. "I'm starting to believe you have a death wish for me." She walked into the room and a thought occurred to her, "But hey, I have to make a phone call anyway." She dialed Giles' number, but it was busy. "Damn." She put the phone down on the end table and sat across from Tommy, on Merton's bed.  
  
"I haven't been slaying on your turf, so what brought you here?" Tommy smirked.  
  
"Well, surprisingly enough, I didn't come to yell at you."  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
Buffy paused, her voice becoming serious suddenly, "Look, I came to warn you."  
  
Just at that moment, Merton and Willow entered the dorm room.   
  
"Buffy?" Willow said as she noticed her friend. "What are you doing here-oh did you come to tell him about the..." She stopped, after receiving a look from Buffy, obviously she hadn't told him about the hunter yet."  
  
"The what?" Tommy asked, concerned.  
  
Buffy sighed, "Long story."  
  
"I'm listening." Tommy said.  
  
"Okay well, a year or so ago there was a werewolf hunter in town. Evil sort of guy, but human, which was even more evil-ish, but anyway, he started hunting a friend of mine and Willow's and-"  
  
"What a second? There really was another werewolf here?"   
  
"Yeah, I read about a werewolf in Sunnydale on the werewolf.com message board," Merton added.  
  
"Yeah, you post to the werewolf message board too?" Willow asked, she was sitting on Merton's bed, next to Buffy, "I used to go there all the time. My handle was 'Lycanthrope Lover'."  
  
Merton had remembered chatting with someone with that handle a while back, "Remember 'Goth King'."  
  
"Oh, my god, that's you?" Willow couldn't believe the coincidences that had affected her week thus far.  
  
"Excuse me, love birds, earth to Willow." Buffy interrupted them, glad that Willow had finally found someone after the whole Oz-fiasco, but still there was work to be done. And a story to finish.  
  
"Oh, sorry," Willow was brought back to earth again, looking sheepish, "Go ahead."  
  
"Right... my train of thought has been derailed..." Buffy paused. "Oh, yeah, so this Gib Cain character was hunting my friend Oz, who is another werewolf, and used to live in Sunnydale, I did some butt kicking, sent him packing without Oz's pelt. All was normal on the hellmouth, which isn't quite normal anyway, but last night I had a dream... Us Slayers are known for having prophetic dreams... I dreamt Gib Cain was back in Sunnydale, up to his old hunting ways again. I woke up, told Willow to try to find out through her hacking skills where the hunter might be today, she found a credit card issued to Cain that was used in Sunnydale just a few days ago." She took a breath after her immensely long story, "So, Cliff notes: The werewolf hunter's back in town, and my guess is he's not going to leave soon."   
  
A piece of paper fell out of her pocket, "Oh yeah. Another thing... I ran into a um... ally" She didn't know what to call Spike, ally would work for tonight, but tomorrow it might be back to enemies, "He found a prophesy, a nice little gift for me, like I didn't have enough to think about... But, Giles, Master Translator isn't home, I hardly passed English, I doubt I could translate this gobbledygook." The blonde looked at the piece of paper that was ripped from a book, turning it around, "I don't even know which side is up."  
  
"This looks like a job for -" Tommy started.  
  
"Merton, Translator-man," He stood in a mock-superman pose, trying to impress Willow. Tommy shook his head. Willow smiled.  
  
Merton took the prophecy from Buffy and went over to the small bookcase that was in his corner of the room reaching for a arameic-english dictionary that was in his occult book collection.  
  
"Oh, wow, look at mini-Giles," Buffy giggled and nudged Willow.  
  
After a few minutes he jumped up, "I've got it!" He walked back over to his friends, "It says-  
  


_One girl will fight  
To save the light  
From the Creatures   
With Vampire features  
  
One boy will fight  
With wolf essence and might  
But be cut down  
In the 'Sunny Town'  
  
There is one way to prevent  
And the hunter made to relent  
If the slayer lays down her life  
Happiness will come of pain and Strife.  
_

  
  
"Sounds a little too Dr. Suess-y to be a prophesy," Buffy joked, not wanting to acknowledge the last two lines.  
  
Willow looked from Tommy to Buffy and back again. She didn't want to lose either of them. "Yeah, right, defiantly Dr. Suess-y."   
  
  
  
  
Gib Gain smiled as he loaded the gun; he was going to enjoy taking down this prey. Usually it was only business, but this was different. This was going to be fun. The barrel of the pistol slid back into place with a click.  
  
  
  
  
An hour later, the four teenagers were no closer to understanding the prophecy then they were before. All they knew was that Buffy's dream of the hunter was most likely coming true, and it was either the werewolf of the slayer who was going to wind up dead if they didn't stop it.   
  
"Enough of this, it's not getting us anywhere," Buffy finally lost her patience, standing up. Her anger at fate was at the breaking point. "I don't care what some stupid prophecy says. I've stopped them before, I'll do it again." The rest of them just looked at her, not knowing whether to believe it or not. "Merton, take Willow home... I'm going on patrol."  
  
"Buffy..." Willow started to say. She knew what Buffy must be feeling, and didn't want her going out to fight vampires with that much on her mind. It was too dangerous, she could make a mistake, and what if she did, what if Willow lost her best friend? That wasn't so much a new though, Willow worried about Buffy's 'night job' almost daily. But she was the slayer.  
  
"No, I'm fine, okay Will. Just-- just go back to the dorm, I'll be there later." She didn't wait for an answer as she stormed out of the room. If she had listened to them it might have made it harder to do what she had to do.  
  
  
  
Willow walked next to Merton while they crossed the main lawn of the University of Sunnydale campus. They were both silent, a result of the events of the day.  
  
"It just irks me, you know?" Willow finally spoke. "I just feel so..."  
  
"Helpless?"  
  
"Right," The redhead replied. "It's just... major things are happening and Buffy won't even let me help. I mean, what am I supposed to do, wait around till I hear which one of them dies," She added, becoming increasingly upset, and increasingly morbid, "This is so not sane."  
  
"We should do something," Merton agreed.  
  
"But what?"   
  
  
  
  
Buffy stood out in the moonlight, pacing back and forth and gripping her stake tightly in her hand. So tightly it was turning white. How was she going to prevent this? Sacrifice herself? It was her sacred birthright to stand against the forces of evil, and Tommy was just a kid. Just a kid who got bit once... and it wasn't fair! It lacked of fairness.  
  
"Buffy!" Tommy called out to her in the darkness. He didn't want to be sitting in his dorm all night, worrying if she was going to do something she'd later regret. "Buffy... What are you doing?" He looked at her quizzically. What was she thinking? It was share time.  
  
"I was vamp hunting before you showed up," She paused, upset that her irritability was getting the best of her and making her Cranky Buffy. "So, what are you doing here?"  
  
He held up his hands, it was always a battle with her wasn't it. "Not getting in the way of your vampire slaying, god forbid."  
  
"I'm sorry." It was a gentle apology and he seemed to accept it.   
  
Tommy looked around, he sensed something in the air. Buffy felt that tingly spider-sense as well. Someone was watching them. "Let's get out of here."  
  
"Right," Buffy agreed as they started heading out of the wooded park. They still felt that same someone behind them but tried to shrug it off. It's kind of hard though, to shrug off the feeling that certain doom is following you.   
  
Buffy turned around and tried to find the pursuer that was hiding in the bushes somewhere. She couldn't see much of anything in this area of the woods though, so she turned back around and was about to continue on with Tommy when she realized Tommy wasn't there. "Tommy?"   
  
No one answered back.   
  
"Tommy!"   
  
Nothing.  
  
"TOM--" Buffy felt something pierce her neck like a bee's stinger. Her hand felt beneath her long blond hair and wrapped around something that felt like a small arrow. She pulled it from her neck and brought it to her eyes, "Damn..." Her feet collapsed underneath her and the world became fuzzy.  
  
  
  
  
A pounding on her dorm door broke through the slumber Willow was enjoying. With a jolt she sat up in bed and realized that someone was at the door. "I'm coming," She called out as her feet slid into purple fuzzy slippers. Wrapping her terry cloth robe around herself she opened the door.   
  
"Willow!" Merton hurried into her room, "Something happened."  
  
"Something happened?" All at once she was up and anxious.   
  
"Tommy never came home last night."  
  
Willow looked over towards her roommate's unslept-in bed. "Buffy didn't either." Her mind tried to think of a positive, anything positive to convince her that this wasn't as bad as it looked, "Maybe they're together... doing stuff...?"  
  
Merton looked her in the eyes, "I don't think so. This is bad. Super bad." He was rarely serious, but this was important.   
  
She had known that, as soon as she saw Buffy wasn't back yet, she had known. Yet she so wanted to disbelieve the prophecy. "Give me a moment to get dressed and we'll go look for them... we'll find them Merton..." A tense smiled was put over her features, as she tried once more to shake the bad thoughts from her head.   
  
  
  
  
Buffy glanced around herself, as muddled as her brain felt she still had to find a way out of this place. And where exactly was this place? She sighed and leaned once again on the bars of the cell she and the sleeping Tommy shared. God, I hope he wakes up soon, she looked at him sideways.   
  
There was nothing left to do, no way out to try that Buffy hadn't already, so she sat down next to Tommy and went over what little plan she did have: Wait for whoever put them there to come back and then either kill them, or be killed. A lump rose in her throat. It had been years since she became a slayer, she was an old pro at getting out of tight situations, but still each one scared her. What if this was the one she didn't make it out of?  
  
"Buff-y?"  
  
The slayer looked down to where Tommy's voice came from. He was waking up. "Nice of you to join me in our first day of being kidnapped." She grinned at him.   
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Funny thing..." She paused and then frankly said, "I have no idea."   
  
"There was a dart... and a guy... and... stuff?"  
  
"Well, you remember more than me, and that's not saying much."   
  
"So... let's get out of here," He tried to stand up and felt his wobbly legs for the first time and sat back down. "Or we could just wait..."  
  
"We're down to waiting and hoping," Buffy grimaced. Hopefully the Scooby Gang would know where to start looking or maybe they really hadn't been kidnapped and this was just some unfriendly dream. "Doesn't look good."  
  
"Maybe it'll look better when the room stops spinning?" The effects of the drugs were still coursing through him.   
  
"And when we can stand up for longer than a minute." Buffy added.   
  
"Yeah, I hear that helps."  
  
Silence reigned around them once more as they took in their new location, each working out the beginnings of an escape in their minds.   
  
  
  
  
Willow placed a black candle in the middle of a star drawn in chalk in her dorm room. It was a simple spell, but she had never used it before. If it was up to her she wouldn't have first tried it at a time like this, but her and Merton had run out of ideas. Giles wasn't home and Riley was on a mission with the Initiative. Anya and Xander were... somewhere. They hadn't been picking up the phone, and Willow wasn't exactly sure what that meant.   
  
"Okay, let's get chant-y." Merton held the spell book in his hands as he entered the girl's dorm. He had to go back to get the proper spell and had returned wearing a brown robe that looked like it would be in a monk's flea sale.   
  
Willow giggled as she saw him for the first time, "You really don't have to wear that."  
  
"Ah... but it sets the mood."  
  
She shook her head and sat down in the middle of the star. Merton sat down across from her and got ready to begin the spell. They clasped each other's hands. Willow smiled slightly as she felt connected to him.  
  
"Goddess Tiylla," Willow began in a boisterous voice. "One who is seen and unseen. We welcome you to the circle."  
  
"God Bernille," Merton added, "One who displays the truth of the world. We welcome you to the circle."  
  
"Transport us to the unseen." Willow grabbed a fistful of witchbane from a pouch beside her and sprinkled it on the middle candle. "Transport us to the unseen... Transport us to the unseen..." Merton joined in with her chanting, " Transport us to the unseen..."  
  
The room around them fazed out and swirls of color and time and place surrounded them, filling the air with whirling color and sound. And then it stopped. Willow found she was standing in a dank room, it felt like a basement, then she noticed a jail like cell. She was still holding Merton's hand and she felt him squeeze it lightly, assuring her that he was still there.  
  
"There." Merton pointed out as he took a few towards the cell.   
  
Willow saw her friends sitting side by side in the confinement. They were at least awake and didn't look that bad, other than the fact that they had no way out.   
  
"You did not," Willow overheard Buffy say. Her heart relaxed a little as she noticed they seemed to be laughing.   
  
"I did so." Tommy laughed.  
  
"You're such a jock," Buffy shoved him softly in the arm.   
  
Willow dispersed some hazel seed into the air around her and Merton and whispered a Latin phrase. It made them visible to their friends.  
  
"Willow!" Buffy snapped to attention.   
  
"Hiya Buffy," Willow grinned, and tried to make light of the situation, "So, all it took for you two to get along was being locked in a cage by a madman? Hmm, should have tried this sooner, huh Merton?"   
  
"Oh, yeah." He agreed. "Would have saved us a lot of trouble."  
  
Buffy and Tommy stood at the bars of the jail. "What are you doing here? Is this a new spell?"  
  
"Yeah, whatta you think?" Willow asked.  
  
"Way to go, Will!" Buffy congratulated her best friend and then set her mind to more important things, "Can you get us outta here?"  
  
"If you can tell us where you are, then we can come get you out," The red head explained, "See, we're only astrally here, but now you can tell us where you are and we can physically come and brake you out." It all seemed so simple, but of course it was going to be difficult. Sunnydale enjoyed being difficult. The whole braking and entering thing that Willow and Merton were going to have to do would not be fun, but friends were friends. And when friends were in danger, then fear and danger be damned.   
  
"We were drugged when we were brought here, so your guess is as good as ours," Tommy answered. His ears picked up the sound of footsteps approaching them, "Someone's coming."  
  
Buffy looked towards the far wall, "Someone's here."  
  
It was Gib Cain.   
  
Willow and Merton quickly hid underneath a desk so they wouldn't be seen.  
  
"So, the slayer and the werewolf... awake at last."  
  
"Oh, I am so gonna hurt you," Buffy crossed her arms.   
  
"Oh, yeah, trust me," Tommy added as his eyes glowed, "You crossed the wrong slayer."  
  
Buffy gestured towards the boy standing besides her who had just completed the transformation to werewolf, "And the wrong werewolf."   
  
Gib Cain put a hand on the gun holstered on his side, "I think I can hold my own." Willow gasped and had to stop herself from running out into the room and doing something. But that wouldn't help. There was nothing she could do. Helpless yet again.  
  
"So, what are you going to do to us?" Buffy put her hands on her hips.   
  
Gib Cain sat down on a armchair and put his feet up on the desk, just barely missing seeing Willow and Merton. They pushed themselves further into the back of the desk. "Ever think about the world of forced labor?" The hunter grinned at them. "Do you know how much I could get for a slayer and a werewolf in Russia?"  
  
"You're insane." Buffy shook her head.   
  
"I don't know Buffy, I've always wanted to see Russia," Tommy said sarcastically. "Just not as a slave labor."  
  
"It seems you got no choice, boy." Cain stood up, "I've already got buyers waiting." He neared the cage, and sickeningly said, "They're really interested in you, girl." Tommy pounded on the cage bars, he still wanted to protect Buffy even though he knew she could take her own. Especially from scum like this.  
  
Gib chuckled and left the room.   
  
Willow and Merton slowly got out from underneath the desk.  
  
"Well, at least it's not a demon." It would be slightly easier taking care of a human than a demon, Willow mused.  
  
"Yeah, but just as evil." Buffy noted.   
  
"This might help." Merton held up a piece of paper from off the desk. It was an envelope with a return address stamped on it. "Gib Cain. 573 Harnet Road. Sunnydale." There were various cheering from the three others.  
  
Willow's astral image started fading. The spell had said it would only last until the task was complete.   
  
"Be careful guys," Merton's image started to fade as well, "That guy has 'insane wacko' written all over him. See you later, Tommy."  
  
"Bye Buff--" And they faded completely.   
  
"Well, I think they might have a chance," Tommy said halfheartedly. It felt a little weird being the one in trouble with the sidekicks saving their butts, not that he saw Merton as a sidekick, maybe more like an accomplice...  
  
"They can. I have faith in Willow."  
  
"Yeah," Tommy nodded, "They'll be okay...." But he was still worried.  
  
  
  
  
Willow gasped for air as she fell back into her physical body. Not that bad for her first time using the spell. No major problems, no bad magic gone awry. One day she would make an amazing witch.   
  
Merton blew out the candles. "Let the spell be ended." And the magic aura enclosing the room broke and then was gone.   
  
"Now to get down to the more dangerous part of this thing," Willow sighed. This was not going to be easy.  
  
"The fighting and the hiding, and the running? Oh joy." Merton sarcastically agreed.   
  
"It won't be that hard-- right?"   
  
"Oh, no, of course not, as long as we don't die we should be fine."  
  
"Good." Willow stood toe to toe with him. "But just in case..." She kissed him, it calmed her nerves and sent a feeling of adrenaline and euphoria through her veins. She broke away, "Just, you know... in case I don't get another chance." She sat down at her computer and started bringing up maps of the city, looking for the location the address had pointed to.  
  
"Trust me, we are going to have all the chances in the world," Merton smirked, "That's a promise."  
  
  
  
  
"Buffy?" Tommy was sitting next to her, just talking and trying to pass the time.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Are you seeing anyone?"  
  
She laughed, "Well, what kind of a question is that when we're locked down here in peril?"  
  
"Just, you know, wondering..."  
  
"I'm sorry, Tommy." She tried to think of something to say to avoid the question, "You know what they said in 'Speed'... um, what did they say in that movie? Oh, yeah something about relationships based on dangerous situations never work out."  
  
"Right. Something like that," He nodded, "I was just... you know, wondering. So, Are you?"  
  
Buffy thought of Riley, the star of the Initiative. "I'm kind of in the middle of something. It's not perfect, but I do like him."   
  
"Oh," He sounded like he had missed his chance.  
  
"Oh?" Buffy was taken back, could it be that he had actually felt something for her. "What do you mean by 'oh'?"  
  
"Just... 'oh'."  
  
She nodded, not exactly understanding, "Oh. Right."  
  
  
  
Merton retrieved a bag of weapons from his closet and started taking them out and putting them in pockets and holsters.   
  
"Wow," Willow grabbed a sword he handed her, "When you suit up, you really suit up."  
  
"Well, not normally," He excitedly felt the weight of the knife in his hand, "But I've been waiting for the whole 'Merton-to-the-rescue' moment."  
  
"Yeah, I guess that's a cool part of this. We get a part of the action...though I think I could have lived with a little less action, more of the spell stuff, less scary death."  
  
"No scary death, scary death bad. Just go in, save our friends, escape. Easy."  
  
"Easy?"  
  
He paused and shrugged, "Hopefully..."  
  
  
  
  
They parked the hearse a block away, got out and started walking. "The dance is tonight, you do remember right?" Willow waited for a response.  
  
"Yeah... the dance..."   
  
"If everything goes right in a few hours I'll be dancing the night away with you," She thought of that and knew it would be okay.  
  
In a sweet yuppie voice Merton answered, "And I'll be dancing the night away with you."  
  
Willow almost kissed him again, but stopped herself and returned the problem at hand, "But life saving first."  
  
"Right, right," Merton continued to walk towards the house, "That first... and then later..."   
  
"Later..."  
  
"Sheesh, look at us."  
  
"Our friends are in danger."  
  
"We're acting like children."  
  
"Shirking our duties." Willow stopped in the street and grabbed him, their mouths colliding. A moment of pleasure and then they moved on.   
  
"Things to do," Merton sighed.  
  
"People to save." Willow agreed.   



	2. The long awaited chapter 2!

"Please, step this way Miss Ivanovitch," Gib Cain opened the door. Buffy and Tommy were sitting on the floor in their cell. They stood up as the hunter and a seemingly mild mannered young Russian woman entered the room. "Here we are: two fine examples of a werewolf and a slayer."  
  
"I appreciate you taking the time to show me the merchandise before I made my purchase," She said in a heavy Russian accent.  
  
Buffy and Tommy shot her a cold look.   
  
"Well, I always did respect my buyers, Miss Ivanovitch," Cain nodded his head ever so slightly.  
  
"Please," The Russian woman neared the cage cautiously. "Just call me Nadia."  
  
"Nadia it is then."   
  
"You, boy, you're a werewolf?" Nadia asked but it wasn't meant as a question.   
  
"What's it to you?" Tommy asked defensively. The little hairs on the back of his neck were starting to stand up, telling him that this woman was not someone he really wanted to get to know. But, then again that much was apparent when she called them 'merchandise'.  
  
"And you, girl, you're a vampire slayer?" Nadia gave Buffy the once over. "Very interesting."   
  
Buffy gave a fake yawn, "And yet I'm so incredibly bored. Are we over with the getting to know you portion of the evening? I'd like to move forward to the we're going to kick your ass part."  
  
"Yes. Highly interesting, indeed." Nadia looked back at Cain, she was unconcerned with the viable threat. That pissed Buffy off even more. "I will wire you the funds immediately." The Russian told Cain. Then she turned back to the teenagers. "I'm going to make you two stars. Would you like that?"  
  
"It doesn't seem like we have much choice in the matter, huh?" Tommy retorted. "Wait a minute..."  
  
"Stars?" Buffy finished his question.  
  
"Have you ever heard of the Russian circus?" Nadia smiled as she made her point.  
  
At first she couldn't believe what she was hearing but then the slayer started to giggle in laughter, "You...you can't be serious."  
  
"You know Buff-- I thought being slave labor would be tough." Tommy chuckled along with her. "But being forced to join the Russian circus, that's a um..." He paused again. Even though this was a um... somewhat serious situation he couldn't control his laughter. "That's certainly... um, original."  
  
Nadia frowned at the two of them. "The world has waited long to see what the true world is like. Won't they be surprised when I offer them two wonders of the supernatural world."  
  
Tommy stopped laughing, "Wait... you're going to show us off."  
  
Buffy looked at her detestably. She could not be serious. It was hard enough letting her mother know the truth... if the whole world knew it would be horrible. They would hate her, fear her, destroy her.   
  
"The world will know what you are, what you've been hiding for years." Nadia walked back to Cain. "I'll go call my associates and let them know I've decided on the purchase. I'll come back in one hour to pick them up?"   
  
"That'll be fine," Cain nodded, "Let me walk you out."  
  
Nadia looked back at the werewolf and slayer and smiled. Then she left with the hunter.  
  
"Dammit!" Tommy punched the cage wall. "We've got to get out of here."  
  
"Willow's coming," Buffy tried to convince herself of it. Where were they, Merton and Willow should have been here by now.  
  
"Maybe they got caught or something." He didn't want to look on the optimistic side for once. "Buffy no one-- no one know about me. I can't--" He stopped.   
  
"You can't let anyone know the real you?" Buffy said as she slid slowly down the wall, coming to a sitting position. "It sucks doesn't it? Keeping a secret like this? Not letting anyone in, afraid they'd get hurt... or hurt you."  
  
"Yeah. I mean... the only person who knows is Merton." He paused. "At first I wanted to deny what I was. I didn't want to be..."  
  
"Different?"  
  
"Yes... but that's what we are, isn't it? Different... strange."  
  
"They're not the same thing, you know. I mean," The slayer took a moment to consider things, "Sometimes being different is okay."  
  
"For example?"  
  
She searched for something good about their supernatural-ness, "Who else can say they get to save the world on a normal basis?"  
  
Tommy grinned at her, "I guess so... oh, and plus if I was normal I wouldn't have met Merton."  
  
"I wouldn't have met Willow."  
  
"I wouldn't have met you," He stared at her for a moment and then looked away.  
  
"Sometimes being different is kinda cool." She repeated softly.   
  
  
  
  



	3. ~The End~

  
After two years in the making my story is finally complete, my muse is so happy :) I can stop procrastinating now because it's done! Yay!  
  
Shadows We Live In  
By Vixen  
  
"Ready to go, girl?" Gib reentered the basement room one hour later, on schedule. Hollowing him was Nadia, who carried a small dart gun fill with tranquilizers. It fit in her hand like it was crafted for her.  
  
Buffy stood her ground, she wasn't about to let them do this to her, though she didn't have any idea how she would stop them. Judging by the look Tommy gave the slayer, neither did he. As soon as Nadia shot them, they'd be sleeping like babies and shipped off, chained up, and be claimed as sideshow freaks. "I'm not going anywhere!"  
  
"I beg to differ, slayer." Nadia raised the weapon, pointed it at Tommy and squeezed the trigger ever so slightly. "You'll like it in Russia, I assure it."  
  
"Ow!" Tommy had tried to duck but was one second too late. "She shot me!" Suddenly he felt uneasy, this was the second time in the past two days he'd been sedated. It really sucked. But, still he was moving, it would take another dart to take him out completely.  
  
"Damn it," Buffy cursed. Why weren't Merton and Willow here, how could she have been so stupid to wind up in a situation like this, there looked like there was no way out.. and then she heard it. Faintly as first, then progressively louder. Sirens. Police sirens.  
  
The basement door shot open again, the calvary had finally arrived.   
  
"There they are, officer, the ones who kidnapped our friends," Merton and Willow were backed up by a dozen police men.  
  
"Merton! You finally got here." Tommy looked relieved. If not for his sake, then for the fact that nothing had happened to his best friend.  
  
"Couldn't let you down," Merton waited for one of the policemen to unlock the cage.  
  
"We, um, we were going to burst in here with weapons and everything," Willow explained as she hugged Buffy, thank goddess everything had worked out. "But then we realized how unprepared we were for a fight..." She took a second to look over her shoulder where Nadia and Gib were getting read their Miranda rights, "Decided to do the smart thing and call someone."  
  
"Merton," Tommy started, "Willow... you guys saved my butt, thank you!"  
  
"Yeah, it's good to know they are normal people I the world you can trust," Buffy added.  
  
"They are not normal!" Nadia was making a ruckus at the other end of the room. "He's a werewolf! She is a vampire slayer!"  
  
The police looked over at the teens.  
  
Willow shrugged, "Told you they were insane."  
  
If they only knew...  
  
  
  
Willow and Merton had arrived at the party an hour ago with Buffy. The slayer had then excused herself to go find her commando boyfriend, leaving the witch and the goth alone in cute couple-ness. Tommy had decided to stay at the dorms and rest tonight, he had still been feeling the effects of the tranquilizer.   
  
"Willow, I hear you had a very eventful evening."  
  
"Xander!" Willow turned around to see his grinning face. "I didn't know you were coming!"  
  
"Hey, Will, you know I love to party." Xander replied, showing off a small version of her dancing 'skills'.  
  
"Plus I promised him I'd give him orgasm fun if he took me out." Anya butted in.  
  
Willow turned red trying not to giggle.  
  
"So, Will, who is this?" Xander motioned to the new guy.   
  
"This is Merton," Willow beamed proudly while Merton embraced her, "My new boyfriend."  
  
Xander looked surprised, but in a good way. Willow deserved someon to make her happy after Oz left. And if Willow was happy, then so was he. "Well, Merton, Welcome to the Scooby Gang." The two men shook hands.  
  
"Thanks," Merton shot a glance at his new girlfriend, "I think I'm going to like it here. Sunnydale really has it all."  
  
Xander and Anya excused themselves. Willow watched as they headed for the door, she smirked. Those two were just making with the loving lately. Well, now it was her turn... in a less libidinous way, at least for tonight.  
  
"Would you like to dance, Merton?"  
  
"Uh--sure, I just hope I don't step on your feet."  
  
They strolled over to the dance floor. As the DJ put on a slow song, Willow and Merton started dancing, following the melodic beat and each other's movements. They let the stress of the past few datys float away as they melted into each other.  
  
This was good, this was nice. After Oz, Willow had thought it would never happen again, but then it did. She had fallen in love again.  
  
Her gaze traveled over to the door where Tommy was just walking in. he looked alright, just a little depressed.   
  
Then she saw Buffy excuse herself from Riley and walk over to Tommy. Willow figured all would work out, eventually, and rested her head on Merton's shoulder.  
  
  
  
"Hi, Tommy."   
  
Tommy looked up from the glass of soda he held. Buffy looked amazing in a silky red dress. He could feel his emotions and werewolf-ness coming to the surface, but tried to act nonchalant, "Oh, Hi Buffy."  
  
"I don't suppose you would want to dance with me." Buffy looked up at him with innocent eyes.  
  
"Buffy... you're here with your boyfriend. I--"  
  
"He won't mind."  
  
Tommy shook his head.  
  
"Why not?  
  
"You pretty much said we can't get together, and you know how I feel... I don't want a pity dance."  
  
"It wouldn't be like that-- It'd be just a dance, between two good friends."  
  
Tommy paused and let out a sigh. "Good friends? I guess I could live with that."  
  
They joined the rest of the crowd on the dance floor, but were alone in conversation.  
  
"You know, we could have been stars," Buffy said mock-dramatically. She laughed.  
  
"Yeah, 'come see the strongest girl in the world and werewolf-boy'." Tommy shook his head. "Nah, I think I like just a few people knowing... for now at least."  
  
Buffy was quiet for a moment and then put forth a question she had asked herself hundreds of times before, "Do you think you'll ever tell the world? You know, come out of the shadows?"  
  
"Maybe... but for now you know, and Willow knows, and Merton knows... and that's good enough for now."  
  
"And Giles," Buffy added.  
  
"Giles?" The thought of non-recognition crossed Tommy's face. "Who's he?"  
  
"My watcher... well, he doesn't know who you are, but he does know that there's another werewolf in town. You can meet him, if you want... and the rest of the Scooby Gang. They know about weird stuff."  
  
"They're you're friends?"  
  
"Yeah, they're good people."   
  
"Then I think I'd like to meet them. Any friend of Buffy's... yadda, yadda.."  
  
The song ended.   
  
"Well, this is my stop." Tommy grinned at her. "Thank you for the dance."   
  
He walked off and out of the building, having gotten more than he would have thought possible. Friends, good friends, people who knew and understood what he was.  
  
"Welcome to the Scooby Gang, Tommy," Buffy whispered behind, watching him leave.  
  
We all live in shadows. Sometimes it's someone else's shadow, hanging over you preventing you from becoming someone you want to be, until you break through and realize that it's not stopping you at all. And sometimes it's the shadow of living with the lies you've built around yourself, to protect people from getting to know the real you. But, sooner or later, we all have to come out of the shadows.   
The End  
  
  
  
  



End file.
